‘Why I hate school but love education’

Thought-provoking piece by young spoken word artist racks up over a million views on YouTube

Written by Dionne Grant
10/12/2012 01:06 PM

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POPULAR: Suli Breaks

A THOUGHT-PROVOKING video by young spoken word artist Suli Breaks has racked up over a million views on YouTube in just one week.

Why I Hate School But Love Education, which questions the value of mainstream schooling and why some of the most high-profile and successful figures within the Western world openly admit to never having completed any form of higher learning, has also attracted a notable celebrity fanbase.

Boxing legend Lennox Lewis took to his Twitter page after viewing the video and wrote: "This is something everyone with their own dreams in life should see"

In the six-minute clip 24-year-old Suli recites: “If there was a family tree, hard work and education would be related, but school would probably be a distant cousin because if education is the key, then school is the lock. It rarely ever develops your mind to the point where it can perceive red as green or continue to go when someone else says stop.”

The talented wordsmith, from Wood Green, north London, told The Voice that although he benefitted from mainstream education, he wanted others to be aware of its “flaws”.

He said: “I mean essentially the educational system has played fundamental role in becoming the person I am today. I have been in the school system a majority of my adolescence it is something that creates a vast amount of my "story". I also feel like it is an experience, which unites many people regardless of culture race faith etc. So naturally where I have struggled or seen flaws with it I would like to others to be aware off.”

Suli Breaks has been hailed as a ‘poetry pioneer of the new school’ by a number of leading publications and is being considered to be one of the leading group poets taking the UK and the world by storm.

This latest piece by the emerging talented, who started his mainstream rotation in 2009, pays homage to poet Jefferson Bethke's popular and critically acclaimed piece Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus, which has racked up 22 million hits to date.